In the past, Atletico were able to achieve good results by relying on a solid defense in the high gear, and if there is still a sharp attack on the basis of a solid defense, then this sheet army is enough to become the strongest of the strong. However, this season's Atletico has made it difficult to connect with the team that can wrestle with the top giants in the past few years, since last December, Atletico have lost to Mallorca, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Granada and Bilbao, and in the just-concluded Copa del Rey, Atletico have lost 2-0 to Real Sociedad, which has not only been difficult to participate in the championship competition, but even has no advantage in other La Liga teams.
As we all know, Simeone's Atletico can become one of the most competitive teams in European football in the past few years, its establishment is a very orderly and efficient defense, and the management of Atletico Club has also provided a lot of support for Simeone, helping Simeone to create a squad that may be slightly inferior to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the actual combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated, and the strong confrontation between Godin, Raul Garcia, Lucas Hernandez and others in the past is still fresh in people's minds.
However, the style of play advocated by Simeone has high requirements for midfield players, and it is not easy to maintain this tactic. Godin, Juanfran, Felipe and others have faded out, while Lucas Hernandez, Thomas Patti and others who have shown the strength to succeed have been poached one after another, and Atletico can only buy from other teams if they want to continue Simeone's tactics. Atletico's investment in the transfer market is not small, but unfortunately, it is difficult for newly acquired players to seamlessly meet Atletico's requirements. Atletico's stark change this season is a retreat in defence, this season Atletico have conceded 24 goals in La Liga, more than Sevilla, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Barca, Vallecano and Villarreal, this is not a team known for its defense, Atletico's midfield has been "loosened", in many positions, Atletico's existing players are far from matching the defensive intensity and defensive standards of their predecessors.
From the perspective of reinforcement ideas, Atletico still hopes to "copy" the previous model, such as Herrera, Condobia and De Paul, who have put on atletico jerseys in recent years, but the technical characteristics of these players are actually different from those of their predecessors, for example, Argentina international De Paul is actually a player who is more talented in attack than defensive, but in the current tactics, it is difficult for De Paul to get enough freedom. Frequent change of players is another problem, such as Koke and DePaul who have retreated to the back position, Condobia, who moved to the centre-back, and Marcos Llorente and Carrasco, who are getting further and further back.
In fact, the current Atletico has reached a somewhat awkward "crossroads": Atletico are reluctant to give up the tactical ideas that have underpinned the rise of the team over the past decade, but it has become increasingly difficult to maintain this tactic. On the one hand, it is difficult to ensure that the level of existing players does not decline in defensive strength, and on the other hand, it is becoming more and more difficult to find suitable players in the market. Atletico? It is not easy to get Gabi, Raul Garcia, Cork, Godin, Milan and Juanfran to gather in the same team, not to mention that the current youth players, although physically very good, are technically more advocating the training of ball possession and shooting ability, and the basic defensive skills and fighting ability may not be enough.
So, there may be another path ahead of Atletico: can this team really gradually abandon its defensive tactics and become a completely different team? Atletico now still have a good attacking lineup, and it is relatively not difficult to buy good attackers in the market, but Atletico's problems are more in themselves: their tactical play often forces the attackers to take on heavy defensive tasks, and it is difficult to show their full talent. You know, now the major European giants are competing to reserve young forward stars, Atletico really can't stay in the past era of Suarez and Griezmann killing four sides, in this era of the Yangtze River after the wave pushing the front wave, it may be urgent to update the lineup as soon as possible.
Look at the new generation of European stars of hope, not just Mbappe and Haaland, Vinicius, Adeymi, Vlahović, Wiltz, Osmayne, Jeremy Pino, Martinelli, Bellingham, Greenwood, Saka, Darwin Nunez, Musharra, Kuloussevsky, Gonzalo Ramos, Rodrigo, Ferran Torres, Isaac, Boaddu... These young players are not lacking in talent, promising, this year's Golden Ball Awards although Messi, Lewandowski, Benzema and other veterans play the protagonist, but the prelude to the replacement has been blown, do not forget that Atletico's investment in Felix and Cunha is still in urgent need of return, the so-called "not broken, not standing", in this war without smoke, related to the future of life and death, Atletico must not rest on its own, slow down ah...
(Santiago-Wang)